


A Twin Terror Christmas

by WindChimeGhost



Series: Twin Terror Series [2]
Category: The Matrix (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Ghosts, Holiday, Humor, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2005-11-16
Updated: 2005-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-13 01:03:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindChimeGhost/pseuds/WindChimeGhost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The little Twins are back, and this time they're learning what Christmas is while causing more hilarious chaos for the inhabitants of the Merovingian's chateau!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Discovering Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> ~ Critique not desired ~
> 
> A spin-off fanfic that goes along with my 'Twin Terror, The Early Years' story. This fanfic takes place somewhere around the time of the other one. I didn't exactly write it to be a sequel, but you can think of it as a sequel if you wish, or it can just be a story all of its own. The Twins are still three/four years old in this one, like they were in the other one. I guess this takes place the same year that my other one does (whatever year that may be).
> 
> The words to the poem at the beginning of this fic were written by me especially for this story. I wanted to start off this particular fic with a 'spoof' poem, so the words came to me one night before going to bed and I jotted them down and this was the result.
> 
>  
> 
> The Matrix and all related characters © Wachowski brothers / Warner Brothers
> 
> Fanfic plot created and ©2005 myself

_'Twas two weeks before Christmas and all through the chateau_

 _Not one sign of Christmas could be seen except for the fresh fallen snow_

 _There was no joy, no happiness, or even glee_

 _Nothing but darkness, everyday activities, and boringness as far as the eye could see_

 _The two little Twins were all nestled, all snug in their beds_

 _But the Merovingian was wide awake, he was working instead_

 _He was dressed in his finest house robe, searching over papers that were spread on his desk_

 _Looking over this one, trying to solve that one, and writing something on this one. Oh! What a mess!_

 _He grumbled and cursed in French, crinkled his papers, and threw such a tantrum._

 _In the midst of frustration he picked up a hot mug of coffee and took a slight sip_

 _At that moment a knock at the door brought Persephone into the room._

 _Seeing her brought a smile to the old grouch's lips_

~

(And for the sake of my readers, I won't continue writing this story in poem.)

~

"Dear, you're still working? This late?" Persephone asked upon seeing the Merovingian. The Mero put down his coffee mug, shuffled the papers in his hands, and leaned back in his chair. A warm fire crackled in the nearby fireplace, sending a soft glow through the room and making the frost on the windowpanes glitter and twinkle.

"Is there anything else better to do?" He asked with a yawn.

"You might want to try going to bed." Said Persephone, adjusting the collar of the pink silken night robe she wore.

"What time is it anyway?" The Mero turned to look at the grandfather clock across the room. "It's already past twelve thirty!" he gasped.

"Mm hm." Perse hummed. "You know, I think you should be a little bit understanding."

"Are you going to start on that again?"

"I mean it. After all it is Christmas and this will be a great time to introduce Christmas to the Twins."

"Bah! Christmas is such a waste of time." The Mero took another sip of his coffee.

"No it isn't!" Perse protested. "It's a beautiful holiday and I think it's only fair that we decorate the chateau and tell the Twins about it. It'll be fun for all of us, something different, and something to lift our spirits."

The Merovingian continued to rub his coffee mug across his lips in silence as if thinking over everything his wife had said. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all. Things were a little boring and slow around the chateau now as it was and it wouldn't hurt anything to change the pace of things. Besides it was only for a little while.

"Well," The Mero put down his mug. "I guess we could decorate a little bit. After all, Christmas only comes once a year. Things have been rather slow and monotonous around here so it might do everything and everyone good."

Persephone grinned from ear to ear at her husband's change of mind and clapped her hands with glee.

"That's wonderful, honey!" She jumped up from her chair and leaned across the desk and kissed the Mero. "I'll tell the Twins all about it tomorrow!"

"And I apologize for calling Christmas a waste of time."

"Aw, that's ok." Perse smiled. "I knew you didn't mean it. Anyone who can say something like that about Christmas has a cold heart."

The Mero smiled back at his wife as he took her hand in his.

"Let's see, we can decorate the Great Hall with holly and garlands and red bows. We can put candles in all the windows, and have a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the Great Hall and maybe one in the living room too!" Perse sounded like a kid as she named off everything they could decorate. "Oh! Won't it be so beautiful!"

"Yes, dear, it will be beautiful." The Mero continued to smile.

"To make it more beautiful, we could have a Christmas tree in each room!"

"Perse, you don't want to overdo it."

"How do you mean?"

"A Christmas tree in every room. We'll do well to have one in the Great Hall and maybe one in the living room."

"I guess you're right." Perse sighed, still happy that they were going to decorate. "It's just so exciting though."

The Merovingian smiled sweetly at his wife. Even though he didn't care much for the whole Christmas thing, himself, he was glad to see her so happy. What worried him, though, were the Twins. He shuddered to think about all the chaos they would cause when they discovered Christmas and that they were going to decorate the chateau. The Mero could just see trees knocked over, broken glass ornaments everywhere, and garlands strewn from here to the next state.

"Mero!"

Perse's stern voice brought the Merovingian out of his nightmarish daydreams, and he turned to look up into his wife's face.

"You say something, dear?"

"Yes, I did."

"Sorry, I was just thinking."

"What about?"

"The Twins and Christmas." The Mero sighed. "I was just thinking about all the chaos that could come about and the disaster afterward."

"You worry too much." Perse smiled while running her fingers over the Mero's hair.

"Yeah? Well, I have the right to worry." He folded his arms. "Those two have just about driven me to insanity."

"They're better now than they used to be." said Perse. "I think they're learning to behave themselves."

"I just hope that they continue to behave."

Perse smiled at her husband and leaned closer to him. The Merovingian smiled back at his wife, following her lead and leaning closer to her.

It was a very small room; much smaller than any of the other rooms in the chateau. And unlike the other rooms, this one was decorated to be a child's room. Or shall I say it was decorated to be two kids' room. It had white walls and ceiling and a dark navy blue carpet that was worn and tattered in places where it appeared that someone had been sloppily hacking at it with a razor. Aside from two beds, other furniture the small room had was a toy chest, a table and lamp (between the two beds), a dresser and a desk.

The two beds, placed on each side of the window, had about five blankets piled on top to keep out the mountain cold, which was very bitter this time of the year. Under these covers sleep two of the Merovingian's prize possessions; two identical twin 'ghost' programs that he hopes will someday grow into the best assassins he's ever had. It is not exactly clear as to where these two came from. It is possible that they were once creations of some superstitious-minded human that lived during the early stages of the Matrix, and of which survived by hiding out at Ashencourte or Widow's Moor. But wherever they came from, the Merovingian saved them from being deleted and created them into something he could use, thus giving them a home in the chateau where they would be safe from any future harm.

At the moment, the Twins appear to be around the age of three, although their speech and brains are far more advanced thanks to the Mero's enhancements. At the time the Merovingian saved and created them, he had no earthly idea of how much trouble two little kids could be, thus the Twins have about driven the poor man out of his mind and just about torn the chateau apart.

Twin Two was the first to wake. He lazily sat up in bed, yawned, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. After giving the stuffed white teddy bear, he held, a hug, he turned toward the bed beside him and smiled. Climbing down and out of bed, he made his way over to the other bed and tugged on a blue blanket that half hung down the side. When no answer came, he tugged harder. This time he got a groan and mumble. Twin One pulled his blanket up and closer to his face while turning over to face the other way.

"C'mon, One! Get up! It's morning!" Two shouted in his brother's ear.

"Go 'way." One mumbled sleepily. "It's too cold to get up."

"Aw, c'mon. Get up!" Two punched One in the back, then got up on the bed and started pushing him.

"Stop!" One finally shouted irritably.

"Someone's in a bad mood." Two giggled, dodging One's fist. "Fine! Stay in bed all day. I'm going to go downstairs."

With a rough bouncing of the bed, Two jumped off and ran out into the hall. One sighed and shook his head before closing his eyes again.

Two ran down the hall that led to the Great Hall and stopped before pushing open the double doors. Walking slowly into the area at the top of the two staircases, Two could hear Persephone's voice as well as a couple of the maids. They were talking and laughing about something. Curious, Two walked up to the curving banister and peered out through the balusters at the commotion going on below. Persephone and a couple housemaids were busy sorting out boxes and crates that were filled with Christmas decorations. The Great Hall was filled with them. Stacks and stacks of boxes of every shape and size were piled up in every corner and even going up the stairs. Two blinked in curiosity as his eyes followed the many stacked boxes, some even stacked taller than Perse was.

"Hullo! Mistress, I think we have a visitor." one of the maids smiled at Persephone, and then looked back up at Two.

Persephone smiled lovingly when her eyes met the young child.

"Come on, Two, you can come down." Perse motioned for Two to join her.

Two hesitated a minute, then made his way over to one of the staircases and started descending down it, careful not to stumble over one of the boxes.

"Where's One?" Perse asked when Two timidly walked up to her.

"He's still in bed." Two replied, yawning. "I think he's in a bad mood today."

"Aw, that's too bad. I'll get him up in a few minutes." said Perse, setting down a box.

"What are you doing?" Two asked curiously.

"Well, you, One, and I are going to decorate the chateau and the La Vrai for Christmas!"

"Christmas?" Two's head perked. "What's Christmas?"

"It's a wonderful time of the year that humans celebrate, and it usually is celebrated around December."

Two leaned over a box and touched some gold tinsel. "Is that what all of this stuff is for?"

"Yes, Two."

"What do you do with it?"

"Make everything look beautiful. You see this?" Perse lifted up the tinsel. "You can use it to decorate a tree with or it can be used to decorate wreaths."

Persephone draped the tinsel over Two's head.

"Looks more like flat gold spaghetti" Two giggled.

Persephone smiled.

"What else do you have?" Two looked down into the box again.

"Let's see," Persephone picked up another box. "Here are some ornaments to hang on Christmas trees."

"Trees? Why do you decorate an old tree?"

"It's just part of the tradition, Two. We don't have to know the reason why."

Two continued to watch and listen as Perse took the top off the box she held and pulled out a white reindeer ornament and let it twirl in midair.

"One of the most famous and popular traditions of Christmas is the Christmas tree. Some people use real ones, but you can use fake ones too. The tree is usually brought inside the house and adorned with beautiful decorations and lights."

Two took the box of ornaments from Perse's hands and picked up one of the sparkly ornaments. Most of them were plastic and were shaped like Christmas characters such as Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen, and angels.

"There are also wreathes, candles, strings of lights, garlands, beads, stockings, bows, and other beautiful things to decorate with."

"Is there more?" Two's eyes sparkled.

"Yes, there is more, but you'll have to wait until I get One out of bed. Then I'll tell you both." Perse tapped the end of Two's nose before getting up and walking toward the stairs.


	2. Decking the Halls with Balls of Folly

Two turned and smiled when he saw Persephone descending the stairs while carrying a half awake One in her arms. She stopped once to tell a maid something, and then continued to walk forward and up to Two. Before placing One down, she softly kissed his forehead.

"So, did you finally get up?" Two asked One.

One only gave Two a hard stare before yawning.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

One sighed at his brother's words before turning his attention to what was happening around him.

"What's all of this stuff?" One pointed at the boxes.

"It's for decorating the chateau for Christmas!"

"What's Christmas?" One, again, yawned.

"It's something you celebrate. See?" Two reached down into a box near him and dragged out the shiny gold tinsel. "Mummy's going to 'splain it all to us in a few minutes."

One reached out to feel of the tinsel. "What is this?"

"It's tinsel." Two replied. "You put it on trees."

One gave Two a weird look before slowly taking the shiny strands in his hands, thinking that Two was the one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed instead of him.

"You're crazy." One replied.

"No I'm not." Two scowled. "Mummy told me all about it. She says that all of us are going to help decorate."

"Even Daddy?"

Two shrugged his small shoulders. "Yeah, I guess. He's got to be in on it or Mummy wouldn't be doing it."

One peered around at all the boxes.

"How do you decorate for," One paused a moment to remember the name. "Christmas?"

"Like I said before, you put this on trees," Two pointed to the tinsel in One's hands. "And, I dunno what the rest is for yet."

"What do you mean by 'trees'?"

"You put a tree inside your house and decorate it with lights and tinsel and these…"

Two ran and picked up the box of shaped ornaments he had been admiring moments before, and handed them to One. One reached and picked up a shiny silver star and let it twirl in the air before placing it back.

"And the point is?"

Two shrugged his shoulders. "It's just one of the Christmas traditions."

"What's the rest of this stuff?"

"Dunno. Mummy hasn't 'splained the rest yet."

"Well, let's go find out." Said One, before placing the box of ornaments down on the floor.

Like two energetic curious puppies, the Twins ran to each box and began to rummage through them, opening the ones that were closed. It was a wonderful play thing for the both of them and their curiosity was on overload. Two picked up one of the small boxes on the floor and held it upside down, spilling the contents all over the Great Hall floor. Fortunately, it was filled with a dozen plastic balls so nothing was broken. But the clattering noise alerted Persephone, who was on the other side of the room. She turned and looked in the Twins' direction while putting her hands on her hips and giving Two a sharp look. The young twin grinned sheepishly and bent down to pick up all of the many colored balls to place back in the box. One picked up a shiny blue ball that had rolled next to his foot and handed it to his brother, all the time keeping his eyes on Perse.

"Watch it next time." One whispered.

"How was I to know it was going to spill out?" Two closed the box and placed it back on the floor where it had been.

"Don't be stupid. You don't have to be a genius to know that once you turn a box upside down, everything inside is naturally going to come out."

"But I thought it was taped up like some of these others. I was just going to shake it to see if it would rattle."

Without another word, Two turned to another box while One took hold of a box setting in front of him and opened it. It was full of shiny tinsel garlands, all of which were of many different colors from silver and gold to red and blue. The tinsel looked similar to the long tinsel One held in his hands except it was shorter and was strung together in a long piece. Out of curiosity, One reached down into the box and grabbed hold of a green one and pulled it up. After looking it over, One dropped it quickly and screamed.

"Snake!" he shouted before jumping back.

Two jumped back too, not really realizing what he was jumping back for.

"What's wrong with you?" Two asked.

"Snake! I picked up a snake!" One scrambled to get as far away from the box as he could.

"Where!" Two still didn't understand what was going on.

One pointed toward the box. "In there!"

"What happened?" came another voice. Both Twins turned to see Persephone over them, who had rushed to the Twins the moment she heard One's scream.

"There's a snake in there." Two pointed to the box. "One picked it up."

"Yeah, it's long and green and icky." One hid behind Two. "And it hissed at me."

"There's no snake in there." Perse walked over to the box of garlands and picked up a blue one. "See? It's not a snake. It's only a tinsel garland."

The Twins watched as Perse shook the lifeless limp decoration. The light from the chandelier above made it twinkle and glisten. One hid behind Two even more at seeing it.

"One, it's not going to hurt you." Perse chuckled. She proceeded in dragging the garland out of the box and held the whole thing in her hands. "See? It's not a snake. It's not even alive. It's a garland that you wrap around a tree or down a banister."

One slowly stepped out from behind his brother and timidly walked up to Perse. Reaching out his hand, he ran his fingers down the fuzzy garland to assure himself that it wasn't a snake. He smiled and rubbed his cheek with the shiny tinsel that he held in his hand.

"Come on, you two, I'm going to explain Christmas to you while we put up the tree." Persephone laughed at the Twins' curiosity.

Picking up a box of ornaments and a book, and placing them under her arm, Perse took both twins by the hand and led them through a door and into the living room. A few minutes afterward, two of the maidservants came in while carrying a huge long box that had several branches of a fake Christmas tree sticking out of the top. They roughly set it down on the floor where Perse had instructed and left the room.

"I think we'll put it here, by the fireplace." Persephone pointed to a corner that was on the left.

A warm fire blazed in the fireplace, making for a wonderful Christmas setting once the tree was erected and decorated.

"What do you think?"

The Twins glanced at the boxed tree and then at the empty corner before smiling.

"Sounds ok to us." they both replied in unison.

Persephone walked over to the box and opened it. The Twins hurriedly ran over to watch her, for they didn't want to miss a minute of everything that was going on.

"A tree in a box?" the Twins exclaimed.

"When you said tree I thought you meant a real one." Two looked up at Perse.

"Some people do use live trees, Two, but we're going to use a fake one."

"And you hang the ornaments and tinsel on it?" One asked.

"Yes." Perse chuckled. "See?"

Persephone picked up the book she had been carrying and opened it up to reveal a beautiful colored picture of a decorated Christmas tree. It was trimmed from top to bottom with brightly colored balls and ornaments of various shapes and sizes, and strings of lights and tinsel. On top was a golden star that shimmered and sparkled. It was also decorated with holly and bows, baubles, and candy canes. Elaborately wrapped packages adorned the base of the tree, as did a curled up sleeping cat.

The Twins' eyes grew big at the sight of the beautiful object in the photo and reached to take the book from Perse's hands for a closer look.

"Do you mean that we can decorate our tree to look like this?" asked One.

"Sure! If you'd like."

"Does a star normally go on top?" Two pointed at the top of the tree as he spoke.

"Yes. Although you can have an angel or a bow or some other kind of topper, if you don't like the star."

"We like the star." The Twins said together.

While the Twins studied the tree in the photo, Persephone began to assemble their tree over in the corner. Piece by piece she snapped it into place and spread the branches out to where they looked just right. It appeared rather skimpy at first, but as the branches were spread it began to take shape and was soon full and bushy. Perse stepped back to admire it and to see if there were anymore branches that needed to be bent in the right shape.

"How's this look, boys?" Perse called to the Twins. The Twins put down the book they had been so intrigued over, got up and walked to Perse's side.

"Wow!" they both exclaimed together upon first seeing the enormous fir. "It looks great."

"We put the ornaments on it now?" One grinned hopefully.

"No, we have to put the lights on first; otherwise you'll knock the ornaments off trying to wrap the lights around."

The Twins sighed in disappointment.

"Don't worry, you'll get to decorate it in a little while. We've got to find the lights and then get the Merovingian to help us."

"You honestly think Daddy is going to help us?"

"He will. If he doesn't, he'll be hearing from me later."

After walking out into the Great Hall again, Perse reached for a box that was labeled 'lights', stripped it of its tape, and opened it.

"Now, what color of lights do you two wish to have on this tree? There are clear white lights and multicolored lights."

"Colored!" Two shouted in excitement.

"White!" One added.

"No! Colored!"

"White!" One scowled.

"Colored!"

"White"

"Colored!"

"WHITE!"

"Hey! That's quite enough. We'll be decorating more trees throughout the chateau so we'll have white on some and colored on the others. No need to get into a big argument over it."

"Colored on this one!" said Two, before sticking his tongue out at One.

"Colored it is."

Persephone handed several strings of colored lights to each of the twins and told them to take them into the living room while she went to get the Merovingian to help decorate the tree. The Twins did as they were told. Once in the living room, they dumped the lights onto the floor, and then turned to admire the tree. They reached out and touched the branches they could reach and giggled at the feel of it.

"It kinda feels like a toilet brush." Two wrinkled his nose.

"Yeah, it does." One reached out to stroke several of the branches again. "Maybe it's really a bunch of toilet brushes fixed to look like a tree and dyed green."

"So does that mean we're really decorating a giant toilet brush?" Two's eyebrows rose.

"Nah. If it's really a toilet brush, Mummy would have told us."

"Maybe she was too embarrassed. I mean, hanging lights and ornaments on a giant toilet brush to celebrate Christmas isn't something you would want to mention or talk about."

"True." One grabbed a handful of branches and stuck his face into them.

At that moment, Persephone came into the room and smiled when she saw the Twins. Both of them smiled back and continued to rub and pet the tree's branches.

"Mummy, is this really a giant toilet brush shaped to look like a tree?" Two blurted out, much to One's embarrassment.

"What?" Perse stopped and looked puzzled at the child's question, and at the same time tried to keep herself from laughing. Personally, it would be rather disturbing to know that the Twins knew what a toilet brush felt like and it would be curious to know if they washed their hands after and when they did touch it, however this thought apparently didn't cross Perse's mind.

"It feels kinda like a toilet brush so we were wondering if it was really a giant toilet brush."

"No, of course not." Perse chuckled.

"Is Daddy coming?" One said, changing the subject.

"He'll be right in here in a few minutes. While we're waiting, we can help things to go faster by untangling these lights."


	3. Lighten Up for Christmas

The Twins and Persephone managed to untangle the many strings of lights and placed them in neat lines throughout the room so they wouldn't tangle up again. By the time Perse and One finished placing the last string on the floor, the Merovingian still had not come to help decorate. So, to pass the time, the Twins busied themselves with peering into the boxes Perse had brought in. There were boxes of ornaments, bows, garlands, and other Christmas items of which the Twins asked many questions about. One picked up a weird looking green plant having tiny white berries all over it and handed it up to Perse.

"What's this stuff do?" he curiously asked. "Give allergies?"

"No. That's mistletoe." Perse smiled.

One, again, looked at the plant. "I didn't even know missiles had toes."

Perse laughed and bent down in front of One, taking the mistletoe in her hands.

"No, no. It's 'mistletoe'. It's a plant. One of the customs of Christmas is that you hang mistletoe from the ceiling or in a doorway," Perse held the plant over One's head. "And whenever two people catch each other under it, they have to kiss."

Persephone kissed One on the cheek and smiled.

"Eeeeeeeew!" Two wrinkled his nose and backed up against the couch. One also gave a look that matched his brother's words.

"Is it all that bad?" Perse laughed, handing the mistletoe back to One.

One carefully eyed it and then smiled mischievously. He quickly reached over and held the plant over Two's head and the couch.

"Two, you have to kiss the couch."

Two's eyes went to the mistletoe hanging over him then back at One.

"I do not!" He scowled. "The couch isn't a person."

"So?"

Two scowled even more before shouting for Perse.

"One, leave your little brother alone."

One sighed and took the mistletoe away from Two. "You're no fun."

"I am too! I'm just not as dumb as you think I am."

"I don't think you're dumb at all. I was just picking at ya."

Two crossed his arms and continued to pout.

At that moment, everyone's attention turned to the door where the Merovingian came into the room, finally.

"It's about time." said Perse.

The Mero didn't bother answering his wife. The first thing his eyes silently landed on was the Twins. They gave him a huge smile in return and offered him one of the strings of Christmas lights.

"You gonna help us decorate the tree for Christmas, Daddy?"

The Mero cringed inside at hearing the Twins call him 'Daddy'. Even though he hated being called that, he forced himself to put up with it for the Twins' sakes. He sighed heavily and turned a pitiful eye to Persephone. She smiled sweetly back at him.

"Go on, Dear; help them put the lights on the tree."

The Mero could not believe this was happening to him. He hesitated a moment, then walked over and took the strand of lights from the Twins' hands without so much as a word. He took a quick glance at them, and then looked back at the Twins.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Two asked.

"Plug zem in and let's see if they will light before I get into putting zem on the tree." The Mero answered.

"But we're too little to play with plug-ins."

The Mero bent down and gently grabbed One by the collar of his shirt, pulled him close and peered into his eyes. One smiled innocently.

"Why is it that you aren't afraid of ripping this chateau apart and shooting off machine guns, but when I tell you to do something you're always too little?"

Both Twins shrugged their shoulders and grinned sheepishly.

"It won't hurt this one time because Persephone and I are here with you. Now go plug in zee lights!"

At hearing the Mero's words, the Twins scampered off behind the tree to plug in the lights. We all know what comes next in the joys of putting the lights on the tree. About two or three bulbs are blown and only half of the strand lights up. Then after pressing down on every bulb and jiggling the cord, the dead half finally lights up, but you come to realize that the other half has now gone out.

The Mero rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath at seeing only half of the strand lit up.

"Cooooool!" the Twins chimed together when they came around the tree and saw the tiny brightly colored lights lying on the carpet.

"Smashing!" One grinned.

"What's wrong with the other half?" Two asked in wonder as he pointed to it.

"It must be a bad connection or a loose bulb." The Mero mused.

"Or a short." Perse added. "Be careful, honey, don't get shocked by them."

"I know what I'm doing, dear. Don't bother me." The Merovingian got down on his hands and knees and began to push in each bulb, making sure that none of them were loose from their sockets. After that didn't work, he began to feel around on the cord, hoping to twist the right spot into making the rest light up. Two and One curiously watched in silence, not daring to make a move or a sound that would end up ticking the Mero off.

"Ah hah!" the Merovingian said at last, after twisting a part of the cord that resulted in the dead half lighting up. "There we go!"

"Are you sure you want to use those?" Perse worriedly asked.

"Why not? I got zem to work, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but the way they act… there could be a dangerous short somewhere."

"Nonsense." The Mero said gruffly. "Hand me another string."

The Twins carefully picked up a light string lying beside their feet and handed it to the Mero.

"Wait a minute. I already know zis string is not going to work. Look, zis cord is frayed here." The Mero fingered the badly frayed cord that exposed the wired contents inside it.

Perse leaned over his shoulder and peered at the wire, "Can you fix it?"

"Of course I can." said the Mero, studying the cord as if it were some ancient artifact that he had just dug up. "I just need the right tools to do it with."

Twin Two picked up the plug to the string of lights the Merovingian was in the middle of fiddling with and eyed it. Not knowing that it was the plug that went to the frayed string of lights, he offered it to the Mero.

"Daddy, what do you want us to do with this plug?" he asked, timidly.

"Plug it in for all I care." The Mero replied, not bothering to look up from his work. "Now don't bother me while I'm trying to think of what to do with zis cord."

The Twins exchanged glances, shrugged their shoulders, and proceeded to plug the cord in as the Mero had said. Upon plugging it in, there was a funny noise, smoke, and the sound of the Merovingian screaming, and then Persephone screaming.

"YIIIIIII!"

The Twins, scared, quickly unplugged the lights and ran around to where the Mero was. They stopped and stared with wide eyes as the Merovingian struggled to get up from the floor, Persephone helping him. His hair stuck up and out in weird places, the room was filled with a thin smoke, and charred marks were on the carpet around where the string of lights lay.

"W-What happened?" The Mero asked in a dazed tone. "Did I get struck by lightening?"

"No, dear, you just got struck by a string of Christmas lights. Now, stand up."

Persephone struggled to stand her husband up straight, putting her hand on his back to keep him from wobbling. Every time, the Mero's knees buckled under him and he would start to fall forward. It took a few minutes, but he finally came around to his senses. The Twins stood and stared silently in his direction, waiting for the moment when they would hear inhuman yelling mixed with French loud enough to break the windows.

The Merovingian narrowed his eyes at the two and slowly crossed his arms over his chest. Two smiled and pointed to One.

"He did it."

"What do you mean, I did it? You're the one who did it!" One protested. "It wasn't me, Daddy, Two picked it up and plugged it in! Honest!"

The Merovingian continued to eye both twins without saying a word. Two reached down and picked up another set of lights and handed it to the Mero as a peace offering, but it didn't help. The Mero continued to stand as still as he could without moving a muscle.

"Dear, leave them alone. They didn't mean anything by it." Perse nudged the Mero's arm. "It was probably an accident."

"That's right!" Two quickly added. "I didn't mean to do it, honest! Besides, you told us to plug it in!"

The Merovingian sighed and shook his head before turning to leave the room.

The Merovingian came back after a few minutes while carrying some black tape and a pair of needle nose pliers in his hands. The Twins watched in fascination as the Mero fixed the exposed wires. When he was finishing putting the black tape around the cord, he turned to the Twins.

"You two go around there and wait until I tell you to plug these in."

The Twins nodded excitedly, and darted around to the other side of the tree again.

"Don't you plug them in until I say so, you hear?" he called after them. "So just keep your little hands away from that plug!"

"Okay, Daddy!" they both replied back.

One picked up the cord and smiled. Both twins stood and fiddled with the branches of the tree while they waited. They could hear the mumbles and complaints of the Mero, and Persephone talking.

"Do you think Daddy's finished now?" Two asked his brother.

"We'd better wait until he tells us that it's ok. We don't want to get into any more trouble."

"You're right. Daddy looked awful mad awhile ago, didn't he?"

One nodded his head silently, and then looked down at the cord he held.

It wasn't long before the Merovingian called to the Twins that they could plug in the lights. One did so, and he and Two ran around to where the Mero and Perse were. The string of lights was glowing brightly along the floor, just as the first set had done. The Twins smiled at seeing them.

"See? They all work fine now." The Mero turned to his wife. "All they needed was a little repair."

Persephone shrugged her shoulders before bending over to pick up a third string of lights.

"How many are we going to put on zis thing?"

"Two or three, I suppose." Perse answered, handing the Mero the string she had picked up.


End file.
